Finding a Family
by Sabrepaw AKA CrazyPirateMouse
Summary: An orphan thief's brother, that she doesn't know, is looking for her meanwhile getting into a scrap with a young elven rider and her twin sister. Takes place awhile after the 3rd book.
1. Juline's Prologue

_A/N: Well, I am a big Redwall fan (as some as you may see by my stories), but I also LOVE Eragon. So I decided to make my own fanfic._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Inheritance books or anything in them. But Juline, Tarish, Ainran, Analigh, and Saffire are all mine. Analay is my friend's character._

She knew that her parents met the normal way. A man met a woman, they both fell in love, and eventually had her. She also knew that when she was a year old, they had died and she had somehow wound up in the orphanage. Other than that, she had never been told. She hated the orphanage though. They, the orphans, were treated almost like dogs. A bowl of slop a day, hard pallets for beds, and they got beat whenever their 'caretakers' thought they weren't being good. Either way, Juline had hated it.

She had tried many times over the years to escape, only to be caught again and again. She had tried since she was five up to when she was twelve. Then she had waited a year before trying a new escape plan that succeeded. Now she was wandering around with Tarish, her dappled gray horse.

Juline was a thief. It was how she made her living. She dressed as a boy for her robberies, and dressed as a girl whenever, but barely. She looked like any random lass (or lad if you count the times she was dressed as a boy) with shoulder length blondish-brownish (she had yet to figure out what it really was) hair and green eyes that were brown around the pupils. She would tuck her hair up in her cap when dressed in her lad outfit and wore a baggy tunic and breeches to hide her curves. But no one knew that she had a secret link. A link to the wildlife around her. She could talk to animals.

It was all because when she was thirteen, about a year ago, she had nursed an almost fatally injured squirrel back to health. When the squirrel became well again, he told her, much to her surprise, that he was really an elf under a strong spell. He was to remain different animals until his ten years of punishment were up. Though he could not lift his own spell, he could still cast them. He bestowed upon Juline the power to talk to animals. From then on, she found she could communicate with the world around her. Especially Tarish, who began to treat her like she was his own filly.

"What do you think it might have been like?" Juline asked her horse one day while resting after a successful day of robbing a rich looking man who probably could have done well without the loaf of bread and casket of cordial Juline had stolen from him.

"_What do I think what might have been like?" _Tarish asked. He looked up from the clump of grass he had been eating.

"If someone in this world had picked me up from the orphanage? Someone with a home I can love and a family to call my own. With _real_ meals, and a _real _bed and you wouldn't get in trouble if you got a little dirty after you took a bath." Tarish didn't give her an answer and Juline didn't expect one.

But what the young girl didn't know was that if she had stayed in the orphanage a few more months her dream would have come true. She would have a loving family, even though it would be only her and him in his house. If she had waited a little longer she would have had everything she had ever wanted and many questions answered. But then again, if she _had_ stayed for a few more months, we wouldn't have a story.

_A/N: Yeah, I know. It's a bit short, but I'm just trying to get this up. Cookies for the one who guesses who I based Juline off of. Here's a hint; I know her very, very well. Also, The name I have sucks. So after I finish everyone's prolougues I'm going to hold a name contest._


	2. Ainran's Prologue

A/N: And here's Ainran's prologue. I tried to make this a bit longer. Please don't kill me. Well after this and I add Analigh and Analay's (you'll find out about them later) prologue I'll hold the name contest and finally get to the first chapter. Well, enjoy.

Ainran's Prologue 

Ainran Burrese was five when his parents had had another child, but his baby brother had died soon after birth, no one told him anything else about and he was too young to understand. But five years later, his parents had another child. A girl they named Juline. Being ten, Ainran thought himself responsible enough to take care of his sister, but his parents refused for him to do nothing more than hold her for a minute. Feeling left out and lonely, the ten year old decided he wanted to go to a soldier school, where young boys were taught to fight. Thinking this would relax their son a bit, his parents agreed.

Two years later, Ainran got terrible news that his parents had died. They had been on their way to Teirm when their group was attacked by an Urgal attack. Ainran was told that only his baby sister had survived. When he arrived, he suddenly felt a feeling he had never had for his sister before. Love.

The two siblings had no other relatives to take care of Juline and since Ainran was only twelve and in training, he brought her to an orphanage. He left her with a vow that he would return for her whenever he was able to.

Thirteen years later, Ainran returned to find out Juline had run away. He was terrified. Why would she leave when she knew he was coming for her? The twenty four year old asked the orphanage if they had told Juline his vow. They simply replied 'No'. Furious, the young soldier demanded for a recent picture of his sister and the orphan caretakers gave it to him willfully, eyeing the sword that hung at his waist all the while. When they produced a picture of an eleven-year-old Juline, Ainran snatched it from them and marched out of the orphanage.

He traveled from one town to the next. He never kept his hopes high. After all, finding one teenage girl in the Empire was hard. Plus the fact that Ainran still did guard duty where he was needed. And being a guard made him wary of the Wanted posters. He checked them everyday. It was on one such day that he noticed a familiar face.

"Look," his friend, another guard, said. "A new face is on the wall." Ainran looked. It was a young boy, around thirteen or fourteen.

His friend read the description. "'About 5' 3", wears green cap, brown breeches, baggy green shirt, has green eyes blondish-brown hair. Wanted for robbery. Takes the necessities for living and sometimes jewels if tempted. He is very quick and stealthy, and may be seen with a dappled gray horse. Reward: 2,000 pounds.' Wow. That's a lot for a little thief."

A passing merchant overheard him. "Ah, little he may be, but he is quick and take the best of what you have. I should know, he steals from me whenever he's here in Narda," he commented. The merchant gave a little chuckle. "Guess it means I'm one of the best. He only steals from the best and we merchants, though we hate him for what he does, brag about how much he's stolen from us." He walked on, chuckling to himself.

Ainran looked back to the picture. There was something oddly familiar about the boy. He let it pass. "Come on, let's go," he said. As him and his friend walked back to their post, he suddenly felt the urge to look at his sister again. Taking out the picture, he looked at her face and it struck him like a lightning bolt. He ran back to the wanted wall and looked for the robber boy. He looked just like his sister except that he looked a bit older and had his hair up in his cap. Ainran gasped. He was Juline.


	3. Analigh's Prologue

* * *

_A/N: Alrighty, we got a disclaimer here. Zilma is my sister's character. That's it…. I certainly hope you got the rest. I'll introduce her in the first chapter. Oh, Merry Christmas.Analigh's Prologue_

_Analigh's Prologue_

Analigh looked out over the forest atop her emerald and sapphire dragon. Du Weldenvarden looked so strange from up here. This was the first time to actually fly her dragon, Saffire and it was a bit strange. As if reading her thoughts (of course she could) Saffire did a dragon chuckle. _The trees look like broccoli don't they?_

Analigh grinned. Saffire had such a funny imagination. _Aye. Broccoli. And they probably think you look like a dirty gem._

_Ah, but a gem nonetheless._ Saffire swooped low, making her scales sparkle emerald and sapphire for all the elves to see below. The young dragon loved to show off.

_Vain little thing, _Analigh thought. _Nothing at all like her mother._

_But that would be no fun if I were like her. She's so serious. And Eragon being around all the time doesn't help._

_But she has a reason. After all, she had to be the mother of her race seeing as she was the only female dragon around. Shur'tugal Eragon is lucky._

_Hey! You're lucky too! It's not everyday a dragon hatchling, whose parents are very, very, very famous mind you, chooses a simple little elf like you_

_That's true. _Analigh looked down at the silver mark that Saffire had left on her hand when the young elven girl had touched her after she'd hatchedAnaligh wasn't meant to have Saffire. She was a simple elf from a small town. Arya, the daughter of Queen Islansadi, had been on her way to Ellesmera with the dragon egg. Analigh had been curious and took the egg to have a better look when she thought Arya wasn't looking. And the rest is history.

You know she was looking.

"What?" Analigh said aloud, startled out of her memery.

_Arya. You know she was looking. She _let _you touch me, just to see if I would hatch. Even if she hadn't been looking she would have felt that my egg was missing. You know how well her senses are._

_Saffire? Can you do me a small favor?_

_What?_

_Get out of my head._

The egg had been a lovely emerald with blue swirls mixed in. Analigh had never seen such a beautiful thing in her life. About 55 years to be exact. By the time she was done staring at the egg's beauty, it was dark. So Analigh told herself that she would return it in the morning. But around the middle of the night, the egg started squeaking. The young elf had freaked. Quickly grabbing the beautiful stone, she ran to the tent that Arya had for the meanwhile.

Analigh remembered that her hair was in a messy braid and she must have had tears streaming down her cheeks from fright, for Arya chuckled wiped them with a cloth. Analigh remembered that night in full detail. "I'm sorry I'm sorry!" She said over and over. "I just wanted to look at it! But what's going on with it?" Arya only chuckled and hugged her. "Set it down," she had said. When Analigh did as she was bid, the elf princess pushed her forward. Then the egg started cracking and Ananligh finally relized that it was hatching.

As Saffire fell out of the egg, Analigh was awestruck at the beautiful creatrure struggling to get a hold of her wobbly legs. She reached out slowly, and a bit hesitently, to touch the dragon hatchling. As her hand fell over the little dragon's head, Saffire had brought her nose up to lick it. Analigh held her hand as the icy grip went up her arm. She tried not to cry or scream. Not in front of the princess. But the pain was too overwhelming. She let out a bit of a scream before she buried her head against Arya's chest.

When the pain dulled down to a mere tickling feeling, like she had fallen asleep on her arm, she was aware of another presence in the room. She didn't look up, just snuggled up against Arya more. The elven princess ran a smooth had across Analigh's hair. "There now. It'll last for a bit longer. You're a Shur'tugal now, a rider."

The other being in the room moved and said something like, "What's her name? Who is she?"

"My name's Analigh," She said with her face buried.

"Little one, we can't hear you," Arya said softly.

Analigh looked up into the eyes of a young man. He wasn't an elf, yet he was still with the elf caravan. He had dark hair and brown eyes and showed some features of an elf, but he wasn't an elf. "I said my name's Analigh. I'm Ramie Arraven's younger daughter. My sister's older only by three minutes." Looking down, Analigh saw the little dragon hatchling curling up beside her. As it yawned, Analigh giggled and brushed away the rest of the tears. It wasn't the pain that had got her crying it was the shock.

The man looked at Arya. "Twins? I didn't know that was possible."

Arya looked the man down with her hawk like eyes. "You humans have twins don't you? Why should it be any different with elves?"

As the two talked for a moment, the little dragon waddled over to the man. When it reached his legs, it stood up on its back legs and begged. Analigh giggled as the man tried to shoo her away. But then she saw a flash of silver as he waved his hand to get her away. Curious, the young elf looked harder and saw a silver oval on his hand. Analigh gasped, making the two adults stop talking and look at her. The man saw Analigh looking at him with a frightened, yet amazed look. "What is it?" he said.

"You're Eragon Shadeslayer! The first Rider of our time!" She grabbed the little dragon, who was still begging from him and held her close.

"Yes. Didn't you know that?" Eragon gave her a confused look.

"Eragon," Arya said with her smooth voice, "just because you saw a lot of elves during you last visit, doesn't mean all of them saw you. She is from a small town and has heard only stories of your victories. Now, I think you should call in Saphira so she can see that her daughter has hatched."

There was a moment of silence and then a huge sapphire head poked through the tent flap. The dragon looked at the hatchling lovingly. Then she looked at Analigh. "Saphira Bjartskular I presume?" The dragon nodded her head. Analigh got up and bowed to her.

_I'm sure you will become a mighty rider. You may not look like much now, but if my daughter, and my first child, chose you then you are bound for greatness._ That was all Analigh needed to decide that being a rider would be wonderful.

You know Saffire? I'm glad you chose me. Life would be very boring and who would keep you out of trouble?

Saffire just laughed her dragon laugh and said, _Likewise my little elven rider._

_A/N: Wow. That was a long chapter. I absolutely loved writing this chapter. It was so much fun. I guess I just like comparing the different personalities of Analigh and Saffire._


	4. Chapter 1

_A/N: Boy, it's hard switching from Redwall to Eragon. Ah well. The title contest is up. And I NEED a new title._

Ainran saw a flash of emerald and sapphire up in the sky, but he didn't think anything about it. He needed sleep. It was almost sunset and he didn't feel like traveling through the spine at night. It was just too… nerve racking.

He found a nice little clearing where his horse could graze and for him to build a fire. In a matter of minutes, his camp was made. As he sat by the fire watching the splashes of pink and orange in the sky, he couldn't help but wonder what his sister was like. She'd be about fourteen right now. He sighed. So young and she was stealing.

He sighed again and decided where he was going to head to next. Some rich town where they had good food and jewels. Teirm would be good. Ainran felt a wave of sadness wash over him. That was where his parents had been headed when they were attacked.

"That was thirteen years ago. Get a hold of yourself Ainran." With that on his mind, the young soldier fell asleep.

Ainran's dreams were dark and foreboding. He dreamed of old stories, like Eragon Shadeslayer, his mighty dragon, and their adventures. He also dreamed of what it might have been like to travel with the dwarf Oric and the elf Arya, fighting urgals, shades, imperial soldiers, and even the old King Galbatorix himself. Then he dreamed he was a alone in the world. No known family or friends, but yet he wasn't lonely. It seemed some bond held him together.

Ainran tried to roll over in his sleep but found he couldn't. Opening his eyes, the young soldier woke at the point of a sword.

0-0-0-0

Zilma was the new girl in the Thieves' Guild. She didn't know how, but apparently she had tried to pick Rocky Hawke's, better known as the Black Hawk, pocket. He had caught her of course and drug her here.

Zilma held her knees close to her chest. It seemed everyone wanted a look at her. But she noticed that one boy that looked about fourteen, looked at her like he was sizing her up or something. It scared her deeply.

The Black Hawk walked over to her and looked her square in the eye. "Welcome to the Thieves' Guild, girl. I'm the Black Hawk, as you already know. I'm also the leader here. That's my second in command, Ruby Red." He said, indicating at a girl with red hair. "Then there's Lucky, Badito, Caddie…" Rocky pointed at a few more people, then pointed at the boy in green that had been staring at her. "And that's Lad, our youngest elder. You'll have to get to know everyone else later. But as for now, if you don't have a place to stay, you stay here with the other new, or homeless." Zilma nodded. Then Rocky stood up and yelled, " Meeting dismissed." Immediately everyone got up and walked away. Zilma, having no where to go, just hugged her knees tighter. Then she heard a voice above her say, "Welcome to the Guild, kid." Looking up, she saw it was Lad, the boy in green.

Without thinking, she blurted out, " Is you name really Lad?"

Lad smiled and shook his head. "I'll ye a little secret if'n ye don't tell no one." Zilma nodded. "My nickname's Jul. I'll tell you more at my place. You can stay there."

"Uh," said Zilma, a little unsure, "I don't know…"

Lad's eyes twinkled with merriment. "Ah, now there's a smart girl. Don't worry, I assure you, it's perfectly safe."

Zilma hesitated, but then agreed. "Alright." Lad nodded then gave two sharp whistles.

The young girl looked at the boy weird, but understood when a dappled gray gelding came trotting up the alley. "This is Tarish. Tarish, this is…. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Zilma." She said politely.

"Zilma. Tarish, this is Zilma. And don't you be mean to her like you were to Hawke when we first met him." Strangely, the horse snorted in return. "Come on, Zilma," said Lad, like nothing had happened.

Lad and Zilma rode to an old abandoned shack. "Welcome to my Tierm home."

Zilma hopped down and followed the green clad boy into the shack, but Lad stopped suddenly and turned around and said, " Now you must promise not to mention what you see." Zilma nodded. The older thief took off his feathered cap and long light brown hair tumbled down. "Excuse me while I go change," Lad said, not at all sounding like a boy.

Zilma stared in wonder as Lad came out dressed in a brown skirt and shirt with creamy colored sleeves. "Lad! You're a- you're a-" the young thief stuttered.

"A girl?" said Lad, placing a fist on her hip. "Yes I am. And my name is Juline."


End file.
